The German Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) was a society formed in 1850 for the express purpose of publishing the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach without editorial additions. The collected works are known as the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe . On completion of the project, the Society dissolved itself.
7-680: The nineteenth-century society should be distinguished from its successor, the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society), founded in 1900. The founders of the society were Moritz Hauptmann , cantor of the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig , (and thus a successor of Bach); Otto Jahn , author of a noted biography of Mozart ; Carl Ferdinand Becker , teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory; and the composer Robert Schumann . The Bach-Gesellschaft began publishing Bach's works in 1851 with
14-491: A complete edition of Bach's works, publishing many pieces for the first time. On completion of these collected works (the Bach-Ausgabe ), the original Society dissolved itself. The new Society approved three enduring projects: The Society has not been directly involved in publishing scores in the way that its predecessor was. However, in 1950 it recommended that the second complete edition of Bach's music be undertaken,
21-646: A revised edition ("Neue berichtige Ausgabe") of the English Suites and French Suites that had previously been published in Vol. 13. Among the editors was Alfred Dörffel . Johannes Brahms was one of the subscribers to the project and also served on the editorial board . A list of subscribers was printed in each volume. The volumes varied somewhat in editorial quality and accuracy; Bach scholar Hans T. David particularly criticized Vol. 31's presentation of The Musical Offering for numerous incorrect readings, and
28-518: A volume that started with BWV 1, the cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1 . It completed publication in 1900 with its forty-sixth volume. However, the edition of The Art of Fugue by Wolfgang Graeser , published in 1926, is sometimes counted as "Volume 47" and was issued as a supplement to the Bach-Gesellschaft publication by Breitkopf & Härtel , publishers of the original series. Additionally, Vol. 45, part 1 includes
35-524: The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica calls the edition as a whole "of very unequal merit." Britannica both lauds the editing of Wilhelm Rust for the edition and notes a deterioration of standards after his death, including a volume in which "the bass and violin are a bar apart for a whole line" (apparently a reference to sloppy editing). In his edition of the Goldberg Variations , Ralph Kirkpatrick also calls attention to several "mistakes of
42-554: The Bachgesellschaft edition" that he has corrected, particularly with regard to the presentation of ornaments . (It is worth noting that the Bach-Gesellschaft volume containing the Goldbergs was one of the first to be published—Vol. 3, which appeared in 1853.) Nevertheless, the Bach-Gesellschaft's volumes were a groundbreaking achievement and contributed greatly to the study and appreciation of Bach's music. They remained
49-714: The standard edition of Bach's complete works until the publication of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe by Bärenreiter and the Deutscher Verlag für Musik (1954–2007). Neue Bachgesellschaft The Neue Bachgesellschaft , or New Bach Society, is an organisation based in Leipzig , Germany, devoted to the music of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach . It was founded in 1900 as the successor to the Bach Gesellschaft , which between 1850 and 1900 produced
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